Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Light hazy pale white-ish to light straw color with a big pillowy white head and active carbonation. Big banana and clove aroma and flavors with lots of fruity character and a nice wheat flavor in back; very nicely balanced. Light bodied and refreshing; not as creamy as some examples.

Appearance  This is a pretty orangish-yellow in color and very murky. The head didnt explode like in most weizens but it came up nicely.

Smell  The nose is balanced towards banana. I prefer my weizens with more of a wheaty character, but this is perfectly within acceptable guidelines. The spices, mostly clove, are light and mate well with the rest of the aroma.

Taste  The wheat picked up a tad at the taste but the banana still dominates. Im finding a very mild grain flavor as well. Otherwise it tastes just like it smells.

Mouthfeel  This is big for a weizen but shy of medium-bodied. The wonderful German carbonation is here in force and theres actually a mild bitter finish.

Drinkability  This was clean and refreshing and went down quite well, although as I said my preference is for a wheatier mix. (835 characters)

Presentation: 1 Pint, 0.9 fl.oz brown glass bottle. Compared to the two other bottles I picked up (the Dunkle Weiße and Weißer Bock), the Helle Weiße has a generic appearance. The Helle Weiße has a cream colored label with a dark green border with a color coordinated crown cap. The neck label has the words Helle Weiße Wheat Beer. The Main label has the word Hopf in large black font with the words Helle Weiße underneath in green text. No strength or freshness date listed, but I know this was fresh to the Store.

Appearance: Milky hazed light golden-yellow body with a large virginal white expansive head that fills the glass at first which means that a slow pour is in order at first. Excellent conditioning.

Taste: No surprises here, but this is a solid example nevertheless. Mushed sweet bananas, cloves, slightly toasted wheat and fruity yeasts. Often there is twitch of sharpness at the beginning, but it is soon subsumed by the sweet banana. Finishes clean and with a refreshing and satisfying swallow. Fruity ending.

Mouthfeel: A complaint of mine is often that Wheat beers are sickly or tacky on the mouth. This is a clean, crisp offering which benefits from the chill but is nevertheless a damn good fresh Wheat beer that has a smooth feel with aerodynamic lines.

Drinkability: I had to work for a few hours today, the AC in our Office is turned down on weekends and the afternoon was hot, so this made for a very refreshing drink as the sun was going down when I got home. Very refreshing.

Overall: Cost $2.59 for the bottle. I always expect German beers to be steadfast and conservative, solid but never surprising. I suppose this is, it has all the classic Wheat Beer qualities that you would expect, and it doesnt deviate from the norm, yet somehow it does that little bit more for me. A very good Weiße and one that I would purchase again, in fact I spied a 3L Magnum of the Hopf Helle Weiße in the Store as well, now this would make for a great Party Bottle that many would enjoy I think - now theres an idea .. (2,189 characters)

It presents itself exactly as it should. A glowing, smogged goldenrod topped with a breathing and expanding plastic mound of creamed French Vanilla.
Fragrant of bananas drizzled with a lemon glaze, sprinkled with clove and eaten with a flaky wheat biscuit.
Begins as it smells. Forward with banana and lemon elements, tart leaning at times, and especially as it warms. The tartness is offset with a template of doughy wheat and coarser hull. The middle is well spiced, with esters of vanilla pod, ginger, and white pepper. It ends with a congruent lemony hop snap that migrates more herbal as the brew migrates past the tonsils.
Medium hewn with light but boisterous bubbles.
This has a bit more lemon and acid than most, though it never seems out of place, placed upon a very supple and traditional weizen frame.
I'd place this one in my upper tier per the style. (870 characters)

Pours a bright yet cloudy golden color with a huge puffy pure white head that settles fairly quickly into a solid cap. The aroma is pretty one sided with banana, more of a banana creame pie. The taste is of over-rippened bananas, it also has some sort of other unique flavor. I want to say vanilla or perhaps mineral water but it is probably not but it does give way to the banana creame pie flavor. The feel is very smooth, no sharp wheat characteristic. The carbonation is prickly but leads into a silky feel in the end. Overall, a very smooth hefe, could use some more spice flavor. Worth a purchase. (603 characters)

500ml bottle from "Lifesource" Salem.$4.49 Pours a gorgeous bright golden yellow,hazed, with a large thick and tight white head.I love the look of a good Hefe. Aroma ,slightly subdued/old?. banana,cherry,bubblegum,slight earthiness,slight clove. After the nice aroma, the taste is quite muted and more on the banana side,carbonation is almost non existent what is there seems natural,bottle conditioned and soft. After a while i got used to the softness and it became a nice smooth beer. A middling hefe..would love to taste fresh (530 characters)

Into a weiss glass. Two fingers of head on a cloudy, pale straw colored body.The aroma is banana, lemon and banana bread.The taste is sweeter for a hefeweizen with all the normal fruit: banana, lemon and a little grapefruit. The texture is crisp with moderate carbonation.It's a solid hefe. (294 characters)

Poured a cloudy light apricot color with moderate white puffy head. Smell is a pleasant mixture of bananas, cloves, and other spices. Taste follows through on the smell with nice banana and clove notes. Nice full mouthfeel. Perfect example of the style with excellent drinkability. (281 characters)

Pours a rather standard hazy straw color with above average white head. Nose is the typical banana-clove with some soft bready aromas. On the palate, high carbonation is noted with a pleasant wheat-cracker sweetness balanced by the yeasty estery stuff, and of course the banana (but not as much clove). Rather standard Hefe-Weizen - better than the vast majority of U.S. "craft" examples, but average for German imports. (420 characters)

Hopf Helle Weisse has a very thick, fluffy, slightly off-white head and a hazy yellow-golden appearance, which really clouds up when one swishes the bottom 25% of the contents, bringing in the sediment. Nice lacing is present. The aroma is of bananas, cloves, and water, and the taste is of banana, white bread, cloves, spice, water, and the most minimal amount of hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is somewhat watery, and Hopf Helle Weisse finishes very refreshing, semi-dry, and easy drinking. Overall, this is a very good beer.

Pours a hazy pale blonde colour, nearly two fingers of white head, decent retention with little lace. Smell is full of fruity banana, bubble gum, clove and spice as well as a buttery note along with malt, some yeasty points as well. Taste is a little more spice and clove forward, dry upfront with a little bit of sweetness mid palate, banana and bubble gum are there as well, fruity finish. Nice mouthfell, medium carbonation, medium weight. A nice hefe that was really easy to drink, although not a favorite for the style it is something I could see myself ordering again. (602 characters)

Medium brown color. Medium head. Aroma is banana, cloves and cherries. A light to medium bodied dunkel. Lightly roasted malts with a very pronounced banana and clove tones. Pronounced, but not overpowering. Kind of light bodied for a dunkel. Flavor does not live up to the expectations of the aroma. Light and refreshing. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet. (408 characters)

The beer pours a hazy dark yellow. Nice head (in fact be careful on the pour or you will get a glass of foam ). Just a bit of lacing.

This beer has a nose of clove banana and spice. The classic nose of a German Hefe. Yummy.

The taste is much like the nose. Lots of smooth grain taste with the clove and pepper adding a nice accent. No flaws or shortcomings very solid taste. Some subtle shadings of fruit emerge to add to the enjoyment

The mouthfeel is very creamy which is not a usual hefe characteristic. I like it!

Extreemly easy to drink. Would be a perfect session beer. Nice example of style and easy to pair with grilled food and salads. (703 characters)

Cloudy nectarine skin with a rocky white head. The aroma is dominated by hints of wet cardboard and mop water, yet the typical banana/clove/fruit and funky yeast scents are still there. Big, sour citrus fruits with notes of banana and clove, bready malts along with a musty and earthy yeast character. (301 characters)

Hopf Helle Weisse pours a cloudy yellow with a thick white head from a half liter brown bottle. The aroma is mostly over ripe banana. The flavor is on the sweet side, favoring banana as well. There is a touch of clove, but it's not strong. The mouthfeel is a little thin. Overall this is a decent hefe, it's worth a try. (320 characters)

I didn't get to actually drink much of my bottle of this due to a glassware mishap detailed here:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/forum/read.php?thread=435086

Pours a cloudy golden with orange highlights and a smallish head for a weissbier. Yeasty, hoppy aroma with some banana notes is unmistakably a hefeweizen. Nice, sweet palate lacks a nice hop presence, but there is a good lemony, citrusy zing mixed with the German yeast. Mouthfeel is slightly foamy. This is pretty good, I wish I'd had more than about four ounces left in the bottle after my spill. (560 characters)

quite a standard beer. golden pour of a mild cloud with that cotton candy sweet and a mild banana nose. neutral sweet with a nice mild hop. floral and crisp but not assertive floral dry. a mild mint finish of sweet fruit. with a subtle wheat and yeast malt end. simple and unarguably solid. (290 characters)

Had at the Postrio restaurant in the Venetian casion in Vegas. The waiter poured from the bottle into a weizen glass. Had an opaque golden color with some head. The smell was the typical hefe smell with a great overtone of bananas and sweet malt. The banana was just the right mix and not overpowering. Really enjoyed the taste (most have since I ordered 3 of them during dinner) and wish I could get it here in Texas. Highly recommend and will be searching it out online or on trips to Midwest where I know it is available. (HR, 4.5, T, Y) (540 characters)

Had this at Mesa Grill in LV. I faintly recognized the bottle from a book. Probably worth noting that the beer’s namesake doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re shooting for something like a hofpen-weiss. Poured a cloudy desert sand color. Hazy and with a billowing head. Carbonation does fade quickly, though.Bananas and vanilla cream are the standout flavors on both the nose and palate. Unlike some of the spicier or fruitier examples, this one seems sweeter and headed in the creamy direction. Hops are subdued, but keep the flavor from being too sweet and dessert-like. Texture was also great with no grit, although again, the carbonation died a little.Tasty and easy drinking. I had it with some mildly spicy southwestern food and it made for a great contrast. I’m not sure what the distribution is like for this beer, but I saw it a few times in the LV area. A pretty fine weissbier that leans in the flavor directions I enjoy most. Reminds me a bit of the one from Mahr’s. Worth choosing over some of the more common examples in my eyes for sure. (1,068 characters)

When first poured, it was a hazy golden wheat color with some foam. The smell of spice and wheat fill the nose. I wouldn't say I could smell cloves, just some kind of a spicy nature. The taste was of a thick beer with some spice and wheat. The turn off for me was that the finish was a bitter/sour taste on the palate and for me, that was not very pleasant. (357 characters)

The pour was a medium golden amber with an average (1-2 finger) white fizzy head that dissipated at a good steady pace down to a very light film and a small collar, which did allow for some light streaky lacing.

The aroma was of a grain malt and a light musty yeast with notes of citrus (lemon), banana, pineapple and a touch of coriander.

The taste was sweetly acidic throughout and had a sweet-tart pineapple flavor early on, then a yeasty tart fruity taste slowly but surely took over with notes of banana and citrus and a light hint of spice making their presence known towards the finish. The flavor hung around for an average time after consumption with a tart fruity yeast flavor left lying on the taste buds.

Mouthfeel was right in the middle of light and medium in body with a watery and slightly dry texture and a lively carbonation.

Overall an extremely flavorful brew, with great body and nice drinkable feel. I definitely see me drinking this one again...

Presented in a 16.9oz brown bottle with green lettering. Poured a slightly cloudy straw yellow color with a fizzy, bubbly, quick-to-die white head and a ton of carbonation.
Smell is of bready malt and a hint of clove.
Taste was rather one-dimensional. Had a solid malt taste and a mellow clove spiciness but was missing the usual banana flavor anticipated in a beer of this style. Has a grassy taste.
Feel was very light, dry, crisp and refreshing.
Overall, I found this beer to be on a rung or two below what I consider the best hefeweizens out there. This beer was understrength in taste and missing the banana flavor usually associated with a German wheat beer. The Hopf Weissbock is much better. (703 characters)

A: Nice golden appearance, bubbly texture. Light carbonated head, not very much retention, with some slight lacing. Doesn't really stand out from other beers, especially some of the watery nasty macrobrews.

S: Smells really nice, just the way to start off a summer. Balanced aromas, bananas, lemons, cloves, vanilla, biscuits.

T: Bananas. Lots of bananas, but its got a well rounded flavor, not too sweet from the bananas, nice tartness from the citrus with the mild breads coming in too. Nice and easy to drink, but also complex enough to satisfy any beernut.

M: A little bubbly, kind of feels like a soda at times, but does go down easy. Really easy to drink.

O: Solid brew here. Got this at a local bar and grille and will surely be back for more as the summer goes on. Wonderful beer to have with friends, sitting outside in the sun. (895 characters)